A study by Anderson Analytics of online social net use, reported here on MediaPost and here in Business Week, contains good news for cause marketers and fundraisers.
According to the study, which followed 5,000 online users, those who belong to a social net are four times more vocal about products or services than those who do not. More than half of social network users have associated themselves with a brand, product or service … in other words, they’re acting as evanglists. Be assured, what social netizens will do for commercial brands, they’ll do in spades for causes.
The study also offers demographic and psychographic profiles of Facebook (Boomers going here), MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn users, noting that Twitter now has more users than LinkedIn. More than 20% of Twitter users have their own blog, "many of which trumpet social causes."
All of this in the context of 110 million U.S. online social netizens (defined as having used a social net in the last month), or 60% of the online population.
Tom
This article was posted in: cause marketing, demographic trends, Don't Miss these Posts, new media, online activism, online advocacy, online fundraising, online publishing, research, social networking.
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Great tips and very nicely written! Social networking will soon become the most effective way of building your professional career and creating a personal brand. However, one will have to invest time in learning the effectiveness of these sites and ways to use them properly.
By the way, I am new to LinkedIn too and have found this resource quite useful. It is a new book called “How to REALLY use LinkedIn” by networking expert Jan Vermeiren. Check it out, you can find a free lite version at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com/